Australia ready to host if Qatar stripped of 2022 WC

Melbourne, June 4: Australia has put up its hand in a bid to secure the 2022 FIFA World Cup should it be taken from Qatar due to corruption allegations.

The ongoing controversy, that has so far resulted in the arrest of several senior FIFA officials and contributed to the resigtion of Sepp Blatter as its president, has raised doubts about the legitimacy of Qatar’s bid, reports Xinhua.

Should the tourment be stripped from the Arab tion, Victoria’s sports minister John Eren said on Thursday that Australia was ready to host. “We could step in, we could help out. We are prepared to take on the challenge,” he said.

He said Australia’s existing bid for the tourment was still good enough to secure the event.

“Once you see the allegations (against Qatar) being made, it didn’t matter what campaign you had,” he said.

Australia, along with the United States, was beaten by Qatar for the rights to host the 2022 event, and Eren said the infrastructure and planning had already been put in place.

But despite Australia’s origil bid stating that Sydney would host the fil, Eren said Melbourne deserved the main event.

He said both the tive code of Australian rules football and Australia’s domestic league would be supportive of getting the tourment to Australian, meaning the 100,000-seat stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), would be available for the fil. IANS